November 30th - Kitchen Lighting Mockups

We're currently trying to decided on the kitchen and dining room lighting fixtures so Gerry can install the electrical boxes.

How many lights over the bar--two or three?  Gerry made coffee jar "light fixtures" to help visualize the number of lights across the bar area; the height between the bottom of the lights and top of the counter; and the position of each light. 

These three "red lights" are over the larger bar area (1):

The hanging piece of wood over the island (3) represents an island chandelier:

 

This "blue light" is over the short bar area (2) and it may or may not be the same model as the fixtures over bar area (1):

 

All 5 fixtures as seen from the refrigerator area:

 

This is the dining room chandelier:

I actually think Gerry would prefer his plastic-jar-and-cardboard chandelier over the "frilly" ones I'm looking at!

Nov 25 - 27: Torrance Memorial Holiday Festival

Gerry took a break from the house remodeling to help me with my tree for the holiday festival.  Thee tree is sponsored by the company I work for, Moog Inc.  The theme is "Iditirod to Santa's Village."

Gerry built Santa's sleigh, the 3 igloos, the 2 igloo doghouses, and he made 10 Iditirod road/milage signs which I hung along the trail:

 

I made the snowmen!

 

There are 9 festively dressed huskies pulling Santa around the tree to Santa's Village at the top:

  The punk rocker:

Each husky had a harness made from red patent-leather belts cut in half lengthwise.  They were attached to each other with reins made from the same belts.

 

 

The princess:

 My tree received the "Best Use of Theme" award:

 

The back of the tree:

My tree sold on the first day at the fashion show for full price, $1550!

My fried Lisa helped me decorate all weekend long.  I could not have finished without her help.

Nov 21 - Attic Stairway Handrail and Storage Area

Mama squirrel was in the bird feeder snacking on peanuts and sunflower seeds this morning.  Gerry was standing about 2-feet away when he took this picture.  She's been around for a few years so she trusts us as long as we don't make any quick, sudden moves.

 

There's a pull-down stairway in the laundry that leads to my attic storage area.  Gerry added a handrail which makes it much easier and safer to get into the attic as well as get back on the stairway to climb down.

 

Lots and lots of storage!  The neighbor has already pitched in with these Christmas yard decorations!

November 10-17 Electrical & Plumbing Continue with Kitchen Mock-up

 The kitchen layout as planned:

 

This is a view of the kitchen from the opposite wall (inside the laundry room).  We're trying to figure out the counter height and width of the two bar-type counters on either side of the entrance to the kitchen, and the final size and shape of the island. 

The stove top will be on the west wall under the arched window.  The refrigerator to the right of it where the whiteboard is standing.

 

 This is the south wall shared with the great room.  It will have the sink and dishwasher.  The large opening is for a stained glass window that will open both directions from the center and slide back into the walls on each side.

 

This is the west and north wall corner.  The refrigerator goes on the west wall where the whiteboard is standing.  The double-oven is to the right (north wall)where the 1x2's are framed.  There will be a glass pocket door into the dining room just left of the oven.

View of north wall with pocket door to dining room on the far left.  The double-oven and pantry are to the right.

View from the attic loft:

Nov 10th - Final Design for Roof Over Front Porch

The roof over the front porch has been a design frustration for Gerry for years.  He left it off the final drawings so we could wait until the rest of the roof-line was done and he could try different design scenarios.

 

  Yesterday, he made a cardboard mock-up of his final design concept and it works.

Ta-da.....he even used white cardboard to simulate the look of the painted fascia.

Oct 13th thru Nov 9th - Latest House Progress.

The entire roof of the house has been shingled.  We had rain last week and NO leaks!

The last area to roof/seal was around the kitchen skylights.  This is where the rain came in last time.

The two windows in the master bedroom were installed to provide light while Gerry works on the electrical:

 

Plumbing for the dual sinks in the master bath:

There are electrical outlet boxes everywhere!  It sure beats the two we had per room in the old house.

Oct 13th thru Nov 9th - Latest Shop/Studio Progress.

Yes......but I'm behind with this blog because I took a 2-week vacation and visited family in South Carolina.

We don't have gutters along the roof-line yet so Gerry set up some trenches to divert the water runoff into the underground drains.  There is one in front of the shop:

and one along each side of the house:

The man-door on the west side of the shop is installed so now the shop is secure at night and when we're away (another Habitat find):

 

All the shop windows have been installed including the last two round windows on the upper peaks of the east & west walls:

Gerry has moved his makeshift office from the trailer's dining table to the shop:

Gerry has been working on the rough electrical and plumbing in the shop first:

There are electrical boxes all over the place:

The can light fixtures are installed:

The shop bathroom is functional.  He hung drywall on the surrounding walls (a little privacy, please) and Kenny installed new vinyl flooring (it's now covered by cardboard):